Good welding practice

Stainless Steels

Glenn Allen
Welding Engineer
TWI North

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 Stainless Steels
• Four basic types of stainless steels,
– Austenitic, most common
– Ferritic
– Martensitic
– Duplex, main use oil & gas
• with different properties and hence different
applications:

• All are weldable but with different problems.

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 Typical Stainless applications
• Austenitic – process plants, cryogenics, medium
corrosive applications, used over wide temperature
range
• Ferritic – low cost variant, bulk handling equipment,
road/rail vehicles, not for elevated temperatures
(<300°C)
• Martensitic- high strength/high hardness, aerospace,
medical, petrochemical
• Duplex- oil & gas extraction/production, not for
elevated temperatures (<300°C)

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 Arc Welding Processes
– ARC WELDING
• MANUAL METALLIC ARC MMA (SMAW)
• TUNGSTEN ARC INERT GAS SHIELDED TIG (GTAW)
• METALLIC ARC ACTIVE GAS SHIELDED MAG (GMAW)
• FLUX CORED ARC WELDING FCAW
• SUBMERGED ARC WELDING SAW
• PLASMA ARC WELDING PAW
• ELECTRON BEAM WELDING EBW
• LASER BEAM WELDING LBW

– SOLID PHASE WELDING

• FRICTION WELDING FW
• FRICTION STIR WELDING FSW

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 Austenitic stainless steels

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 Austenitic stainless steels
• Welding problems
– Weld metal solidification cracking
• More likely in fully austenitic structures.
• Mainly Sulphur & Phophorus.
• The presence of 5-10% ferrite in the microstructure is
extremely beneficial,
• The beneficial effect of ferrite has been attributed largely to
its higher solubility of harmful impurities.
– Welding Consumables
• usually matching filler metals
• The choice of filler material composition is crucial e.g. when
welding Type 304 stainless steel, a Type 308 filler material
which has a slightly different alloy content, is used.
• Weld metal composition can be predicted from the Schaeffler
diagram

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 Austenitic stainless steels
• Welding problems
– Welding Consumables
• The choice of filler material composition is crucial.
• Filler choice depends on required mechanical and corrosion
properties – often higher alloy (nominally matching)
• Autogenous welds are possible, but usually welded with
matching filler or slightly overalloyed.
• e.g. when welding Type 304 stainless steel, a Type 308 filler
material is used, which has a higher alloy content, to
promote some ferrite.
• Weld metal composition can be predicted from the Schaeffler
diagram

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 Austenitic stainless steels
Schaeffler diagram
Stainless steel composition predicts whether solidification
is initially ferrite (δ), austenite (γ), or a mixture (δ+ γ)

Austenite stabilisers, Nieq Ferrite stabilisers, Creq

• Carbon, Nickel, Nitrogen, • Chromium, Molybdenum,
Manganese, Copper Tungsten, Niobium, Silicon

Modifications to this diagram include DeLong diagram and WRC

diagram

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 Austenitic stainless steels
• Schaeffler diagram predicts weld metal phases

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 Weld microstructure
• Weld bead • Delta ferrite (dark
regions)

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 Austenitic stainless steels
• Welding problems
– Distortion
• Low Thermal conductivity
– 15 W/m°C compared to 47 W/m°C for Csteel
• High Coefficient of Expansion
– 16 µm/m°C compared to 10 µm/m°C for Csteel
– Minimise
• Limit weld volume
• Accurate fit up: avoid wide gaps and misaligned edges
• Maintain low interpass temperature (~150°C max).
• Avoid high heat input techniques i.e. large weave, high
welding current, slow travel speed

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 Austenitic stainless steels
• Other issues:
– Weld cold:
• No preheat required, as cold cracking not an issue.
» Austenite solubility of H2 is 8x that of Ferrite
» Rutile electrodes are acceptable
– Avoid Post-weld heat treatment,
• not normally required
• risk of precipitation and sensitisation, 550 - 800°C
– Avoid non-removable backing rings
• risk of crevice corrosion

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 Ferritic stainless steels

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 Ferritic stainless steels
• Sensitive to grain growth
– loss of toughness, embrittlement
– limited to 250°C service temperature
– can lead to cracking in weld or HAZ of highly
restrained joints and thick section material.
• Hydrogen cracking
– Can suffer cold cracking similar to Carbon Steels.
• Filler metals:
– matching, austenitic or nickel alloy

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 Ferritic stainless steels
• Usually parent materials are thin plates or tubes.
• Austenitic Fillers
• When welding thin section material, (< 6mm) use an
austenitic filler and no special precautions are necessary.
– In thicker material, if using an austenitic filler to produce a
tougher weld metal, it is necessary to employ a low heat
input and max interpass of 150 °C to minimise the width of
the grain coarsened zone.
• Nickel Fillers
– Used if PWHT required

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 Ferritic stainless steels

• Matching Fillers
– If welded with matching filler, preheat and PWHT (due to
hard martensitic formation). Preheating will reduce the HAZ
cooling rate, maintain the weld metal above the ductile-brittle
transition temperature and may reduce residual stresses.
Preheat temperature should be within the range 50-250 °C
depending on material composition.

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 Martensitic stainless steels

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 Martensitic stainless steels
• Welding Problems
– Hydrogen cracking
• Normally matching consumables.
• High hardness in the HAZ makes this type of
stainless steel very prone to hydrogen cracking
above >3mm. The risk of cracking increasing
with the carbon content.
• Take precautions to minimise hydrogen

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 Martensitic stainless steels
– Precautions which must be taken to minimise the
risk, include:
• using low hydrogen processes
• preheating to around 200 to 300 deg.C.
• maintaining the recommended minimum
interpass temperature.
• Allow cooling to ambient to ensure complete
transformation to martensite prior to PWHT
• carrying out post-weld heat treatment, e.g. at
650-750 deg.C.

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 Duplex stainless steels

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 Duplex stainless steels
• Preheat is not normally required.
• Heat input and the maximum interpass temperature
must be controlled.
– Too high cooling rate produces high Ferrite
– Too slow cooling rate precipitates third phases
• Choice of filler
– critical to produce a weld metal structure with a ferrite-
austenite balance to match the parent metal.
– To compensate for nitrogen loss, the filler may be
overalloyed with nitrogen or the shielding gas itself may
contain a small amount of nitrogen.
• Complex !

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 Welding Stainless steels to
Carbon/Low alloy steels

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 Stainless to Low alloy steels
• Austenitic Stainless
• Welding Problems
– Dilution of weld metal from the Low alloy base material .
– possible formation of hard brittle structures,
– use an overalloyed austenitic stainless filler material type
309 (24% Cr 12% Ni), weld deposit will be ductile-can
tolerate high dilution from carbon steel/low alloy steel
– pre-heat is not usually required
– Upto 15% ferrite to avoid hot cracking
– Not suitable for PWHT or above 400°C due sigma phase

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 Stainless to Low alloy steels
• Austenitic Stainless
• Welding Problems
Alternative Ni-based consumables (ENiCrFe-2 and
ENiCrFe-3, Alloy 600 type)
– PWHT still a problem for the SS
• Recommended fabrication sequence
1. Butter the ferritic steel with Ni-base
consumables
2. Apply the PWHT to ferritic steel+buttering
3. Complete the joint with Ni-based
consumables

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 Stainless to Low alloy steels
• OTHER STAINLESS GRADES
– Use above consumables or consumables
matching stainless grade, with same precautions,
dependent on the application.

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 Cross contamination

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 Cross contamination
• A steel that contains at least 10.5% chromium.
• Forms a Cr oxide coherent passive layer
(protective film), which is approx 10 micron
thick.
• This is normally self repairing in air.
Self forming/repairing
Passive film Surface damage passive film

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 Cross contamination
• If damaged with non corrosion resistant
material.
• Passive layer is prevented from reforming
• This can then lead to corrosion of stainless in
a corrosive enviroment.
Debris prevents In corrosive enviroment,
passive layer corrosion occurs
Passive film
reforming

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 Cross contamination
• Prevent carry over of particulate contamination
– consider forming processes
• Rolls, pressbrakes and guillotines

– use tools dedicated for use on stainless steel

• use INOX grinding discs, SS wire brushes
• avoid contact with steel chains, forks, benches and hammers
• avoid walking on stainless steel material

• Other considerations
• Use chloride free marker pens, tapes etc

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 Cross contamination
• Fabrication.
– Clean joint and adjacent parent material to remove
dirt, grease, oil, paint and sources of moisture
– temporary attachments materials should be
compatible with the parent material
– Arc strikes can act as initiation points for pitting
corrosion and cracks
– Appropriate post-weld cleaning to obtain good
corrosion resistance , remove spatter, slag, arc
strikes, oxides (discolouration) around weld.
– Pickle and passivate if required to restore
protection.

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